Board Games, Wargames and More

Menu

High Seas Pirates

Sail the High Seas, capture Prizes, steal their Treasure, Bury it on your Island

High Seas Pirates is a new game for 2 – 6 players aged 8 and over.

Treasure

The Pirate who has the most treasure buried at the end of the game wins.

You can get more treasure by capturing Ships on the High Seas, or by stealing treasure from other Pirates.

You can help other pirates capture Prizes for a share of the Treasure.

Bigger and Stronger Prizes need Bigger and Stronger Pirates.

Treasure can be spent to upgrade your Ship . If you spend your Treasure, you can’t bury it, but if you don’t upgrade, your ship is vulnerable to attack from other Pirates.

Balancing the need for a stronger Ship vs burying your Treasure is the essence of the game.

The Strongest Pirate doesn’t necessarily win.

Components

A game of High Seas Pirates contains all of the above components, and more! Our Rule Book will be available in English, German and French, and backers of our Kickstarter may get additional content.

Game Mechanics

Sail

Each Round in High Seas Pirates is made up of Actions. Each player has a choice of six Actions, but can only choose one each Round.

The Action chosen each Round has an impact on the Actions of other players, as the Action chosen may help other players.

Going first is important. The fastest ship each round goes first, but next round has to choose their action first, giving the other players an opportunity to respond, or steal first player.

Once chosen, an Action cannot be changed until the next Round, however the target of the Action may change.

High Seas Pirates has recently completed Playtesting. Comments on our game can be found on our Reviews page.

The Game Round

Decide on an Action

Starting with the first player and in turn Choose an Action from your hand. You can choose one of Six actions each Round

Set Sail

Draw a card from the High Seas Deck and resolve. This could be a Prize to capture, or a random event. You get to attack any Prizes without any Help from other Prizes, or can choose to place the Prize on the High Seas to allow others to attack later.

Hoist the Jolly Roger

Cannon

Attack a Prize on the High Seas. If any other Pirates in the same Round have chosen this Action, they may choose to Help you if they haven’t already revealed their Action this Round. If they Help you they get a share in the Treasure. Isn’t that nice of them to offer to Help? Being a friendly Pirate you cant refuse the Help. If you receive help, you cant capture a Prize and Sail it to Port, as your Helpful ally wont allow it. Isn’t that nice of them?

Sail to Port

If you capture a Prize you immediately steal any Treasure it carries. You can however gain more Treasure if you Sail it to Port and sell the Prize. When in Port you can choose to spend any Treasure you may have on upgrades to your Ship. Stronger Ships can capture bigger Prizes.

If you are in Port it doesn’t mean you cant be attacked. Just a warning..

Bury Treasure

You have Treasure on your ship. You don’t want to spend it, you want to Bury it. Sail to your Pirate Island, and Bury the Treasure. You cant spend Buried Treasure, but other Pirates cant steal it either. The aim of the game is to Bury as much Treasure as you can on your Island. You win the game if you Bury 10 Treasure on your Island.

Skulduggery

See that Pirate, he has lots of Treasure on his Ship, and he wants to Bury it. Lets Attack him and try and Steal it.

Just like Hoist the Jolly Roger, other Pirates may offer to Help you Steal the Treasure. Isn’t that nice?

Abandon Ship!

You’ve been Attacked. Your Ship is crippled, your Crew dying. Your Treasure has been Stolen. What remains of your Crew rise up and Mutiny, killing their Captain. You Reset your ship back to the start, losing any Treasure but regaining your dignity. Your Buried Treasure is Safe.

Assign Crew

Crew

Any Crew on your Ship can perform different Jobs. They can pull on Sails, making the Ship faster, They can work the Cannon, making the Ship stronger, or they can loiter about in the hold with weapons waiting to board Prizes. Once a Crew has been assigned to a Job, it cannot be changed until the next Round, so decide carefully.

Each Ship has a Captain. A Captain can perform any Job on the Ship, and can be used once each Round. A Captain does not need to be assigned to any Job until you decide to use him.

Place chosen Action Card face down on the table

Once your Action Card has been placed, you cannot change your crew assignment.

Decide First Player

The Fastest Ship (Number of Sails + Crew Assigned) goes first each round. Your Captain may help to make your Ship Faster, but he wont do anything else this Round. In the case of a tie, dice of to decide the First Player.

In order starting from First Player and moving clockwise around the table, reveal your Action Card and resolve.